News Story

Players can "stealth through 80-90%" of Payday 2, "want it to be an option"

Thanks to CrimeNet, Payday 2 is "a role playing game now," says QA engineer Andreas Hall-Penninger from developer Overkill. They want players to "feel like a criminal even in the menu." Quick, it's 5-0!

CrimeNet provides the game's "dynamic mission system," which likes to randomise a lot more than the original. For those who like a challenge, you can sneak a lot of the game.

You don't always have to kick in the door guns blazing, but can instead exploit security weaknesses. A great majority of the heists can avoid direct confrontation, if you're smart.

"Payday 1 was sort of built around randomisation and we wanted to make that a much bigger thing now. I’ve played the game for a year and I’m still surprised sometimes," Andreas Hall-Penninger told Sticktwiddlers. "We did small things in Payday 1, but now it’s everything even the buildings and the environment.”

"Our fans are playing the beta right now, I’ve watched it so much and I realised that on one level they always put their bags in one place, a container. We cannot change it because of that, so now we made a 20% chance that container might be gone the next time you play. We’ve done a lot of those things, for example the cars by the bank, some of them might be gone. Some doors might be closed, there might be more cameras, there might be more guards and there might be a civilian in an apartment watching you, so you always have to keep an eye on your surroundings.”

Sneaky. It's sort of a more twisted and sadistic version of Valve's Left 4 Dead AI Director that decides when is an opportune moment to flood you with hordes of infected. Now even buildings will switch on you in Payday 2.

CrimeNet is their answer to helping players feel more immersed in the world of Payday 2, by presuming you’re up to no good. "It’s a dynamic mission system," he explained. "In Payday 1 you had a list of levels, you picked one and that’s it. It’s a role playing game now, so we wanted you to feel like a criminal even in the menu.”

“When you enter CrimeNet, you sit there with your friends and you’re waiting for the perfect job. Starting at level 0, you get the easy ones; the jewellery store knock up or the grocery store heist. As you progress as a criminal, get better as a criminal, you’ll get access to the bank heist and the art heist, those kinds of things. So that is all dynamic, they pop up and then they disappear and they might come back in another pay grade or difficulty.”

Of course now you can try and be the 'perfect' criminal by getting in and out quietly. "I think you can stealth through 80-90% of all levels and there are 26 levels right now. We are not forcing players to do it, but we want it to be an option, because people expect it to be an option," Hall-Penninger explained.

"Did you play the bank in Payday 1? You walked into the bank, put on your mask and that was your only option. Now you can walk through the back door, go through the roof or its entirely up to you. Some people still like to play guns blazing and they still have the option to.”

Hostages are also now more valuable than ever as they help keep the police back a little longer before they assault you, and even let you trade a hostage for one of your friends if they're detained. Killing hostages will cost money and the authorities will deploy snipers. "You don’t want snipers," he warned.